Chapter 15

Mazed. 

“And then they told me to go home, because it was far too big a thing for a student like me to worry about.” I carried on talking to Uriel about everything that had happened since Year’s End, “But the thing is I’m already worried about Calamity being trustworthy, and your sister keeps showing up in places I’m at, and I’m having nightmares about my family. And I don’t feel like I’m being a good enough witch for this tournament and-” 

“Roxanne, please.” Ms. Everheart Interrupted. And I froze. “Take a deep breath.” 

I did as instructed, inhaling deep until my chest started to strain as I held it in. 

“And now breathe out.” She instructed, and I followed along, feeling the muscles in my shoulder and neck loosen. 

“Sit down and take a moment, would you?”I hadn’t realised when I’d stood up and started pacing, but now noticing I felt an incredible weakness in my legs as I proceeded to let my weight pull me back into the wooden chair. 

“You are dealing with a lot of stress. So I’d like to just see if I am understanding everything.” 

I nodded and listened closely. I hadn’t slept at all last night, and it was a weekend so I luckily didn’t need to worry about the classes that I’d no doubt be miserable sitting through if it had been a day I had to sit and try and learn. My brain filled so full of anxiety I could imagine it looking swollen like a blister. 

Ms. Everhearts house was a small townhouse of brick and wood, painted to resemble the same brown and tan as a line of identical houses all slotted together in a perfect row. She’d once given me her home address sometime after she'd appointed Hazel to tutor me. The understanding was that I’d only ever visit if I really needed help, and this really felt like a good time for that. 

The inside of her house was painted in gentle dark purples and light greys; paintings of forests and mushrooms displayed themselves proudly on the walls, and collections of models in display boxes sat quietly on shelves. Little trains, and aether-bikes, and various dirigibles made for an eyeline of variety. 

The both of us sat in her kitchen as Ms. Everheart simply walked across the kitchen floor as I sat staring into the pool of mint smelling tea that I wish could grow into a pool for me to just simply dive into. Cast a spell that would give me gills and let me live at the bottom of a minty moat for the remainder of my days 

“So, from the top; my sister; who is alleged by both you, and Hazel, to be part of a group of witches who turned Amelia to stone…might be following you around?” 

“At least it sure feels like it…she keeps being in a lot of places I was” I pulled out the memory of her in her pink coat attending the protest demonstration outside Amelia’s Apothecary 

“And Hazel sent you home after the head of the Coalition of Enchanted sought her out in order to reverse the petrification process because as Lentock said. She’s one of the most powerful witches in the city they felt like they could trust?” 

My voice sounded anxious as she recounted the list “The more you speak like that, the more I’m getting the impression you don’t believe me.” 

“Roxanne, my sister and I have had a very tenuous relationship for at least four years ever since she joined that blasted organization of hers…it’s less I don’t believe you, and more that I am simply reviewing what you're saying for my benefit more than anything.” 

“So you believe me?”

“I’m saying I need to think about this.” 

“What should I do then?”

“Well Roxanne. Let's start with this. You are a student. What you should do; is go home…rest, study, and try to put your mind off this for now.” 

“How can I possibly rest at a time like this when things keep happening to me and people I care about?!” my voice constricted as I realized just how upset I sounded. 

“Roxanne.” She used the ‘teacher voice’. The shock of it made me flinch, it was something that sent flashes of the interrogation in her office at the start of the year. There was something in her expression that told me she realized it too, “I, yes. You are right. Right now, things have become rather turbulent. You found out something unpleasant about someone you care about. You are getting glimpses into adult spaces and problems that are bigger than you.” 

She stood up from her chair and then turned walking away, a motion for me to stay where I was. “Growing up has a particularly unpleasant way of making us feel small.” Her voice carried as I watched her from afar, digging around in a series of drawers for some such thing. “When I was your age I had a similar feeling. Was working towards a prospective career in professional magic dueling. , was in competition with Hazel actually. Then of all things at the event in question I broke my leg…healing magic made it all better but it was the timing of all things, people were watching, prospective guild representatives.” She pulled out something and I watched the flickers of light bounce off of a something as she talked “I couldn’t do anything.” She returned. 

“I know what it’s gotta sound like, I’m rambling and trying to avoid your actual problem. The thing I’m trying to impress here…is sometimes, you can’t do anything. You are one person. Witch or not. You have to make do with what you have. For your own sake.” 

My grip on the tea mug she’d given me got tighter. Do nothing? How? What person would I be if I just stood aside from all this? 

“That, really, sounds a lot easier to say than it is to do,” I confessed. 

Ms. Everheart lowered herself to meet my eye level putting a hand on my shoulder “I know.” She then took my hand “You’ll find the right way. You’re a promising young witch Ms. Vangrove and a brilliant young woman. ” 

She slipped something into my hand. It was round, silver, palm sized. A button pressed atop it let me press it and when Idid it clicked open revealing-

“It’s a watch?” I looked at it. Each number was curved gently. I could hear the gentle click of each motion of the second hand, just barely, but enough to know it was there.  

“A gift. And it’s not just a watch. Close it, flip it, and press the button.” 

I did as instructed, and was presented with the sight of a compass. Each direction was scribed into the face with a purple lettering, the needle rocking as it floated above the surface. I could feel the arcane energy inside it keeping the needle in place just barely off the surface underneath it.

“You will find the way, Ms. Vangrove.  You will find the way.”

***

 I felt lost. I needed food. I didn't know what I was gonna cook that night,

Every time I thought I had found the way, something would appear and I’d be completely knocked off balance. 

I thought I was a boy until I didn’t. 

I thought I was meant to be a farmer until I didn’t. 

I thought I’d run away. 

I thought I’d join a school.

Those worked out…

I thought I could be a girl without anyone else turning it into a whole ordeal, turns out that's not the case. 

I thought I’d be friends with Calamity until I fell in love. 

I thought Calamity was completely trustworthy until I found out about this snarl of her past. 

I thought I knew what being a witch meant. 

I thought I knew what was right 

Until I didn’t. 

The rain was pouring down. I held up my staff to maintain the shield that kept the water from hitting my head. 

And Hazel was off doing things with Lentock, so I can’t get her advice. Can’t ask Calamity because she’s half the reasons I’m worried. 

My birthday was still a week away…at least I had that to look forward to. 

And why did it need to Rain?! it would be easier to handle all this if it weren’t so wet.  

Walking along the soaked sidewalk beneath me. I couldn’t shake this squeezing feeling in my rib cage. 

And then I remembered. Lilith! 

There was a warm surge of comfort at the thought of being with her. Lilith was exactly who I needed, not sure if I would talk to her about everything, but she would certainly be someone I could just stop thinking about my problems around. 

Spinning on my feet I began in the direction of where she lived. A re-surging sense of calmness as I kept at it. 

And then of course, from the corner of my eye I saw her. Turning a corner and passing a public mail box, her face only slightly obscured by a poncho draped along her shoulders as she now walked long the other side of the street. 

And then I saw her see me, glancing out of the corner of her eye as I quickly averted back to looking dead ahead

Briar Van Winkle. 

Because, of course, why would I ever catch a break? Of course the person who hated Calamity would show up as I’m having doubts about Calamity.

Trying to keep my gaze forward with purpose in my gaze I just kept walking. Intently. Make it to Liliths and I wouldn’t even have to think about Briar. 

In fact I’d just choose to pretend I never saw her in the first place as I kept my eyes locked on the buildings ahead of me. 

Lilith’s house had to be at least half an hour away. Maybe her mother would be baking. That's what my mom often did on rainy days; kept the house warm, and the smells made everything feel pleasant and-

“You seem lost. Witch.” 

My fingers gripped tighter on my staff. I just kept walking. 

Just keep moving. She’ll get bored if you-

“I don’t think I’ve seen you this far into town” 

“Briar, can we not do this today?” I tried to keep an even tone in my voice, some attempt at making it sound like I was just trying to get by, which I was! But it all came out sounding exactly as annoyed and upset as I felt with the situation. 

“Do what?” There was this smirking awareness in the response, 

“I’m just too tired, Briar.” I halted and stopped, my arm slackening as I hoped she’d keep walking. 

She maintained pace. Because of course she would. “I’m not doing anything.” She smoothly spun around, not stopping as she kept watching me before eventually slowing to a stop of her own.

And then I just. Keep walking.  

There was no point in this. What was the point in trying to stand off against her. 

“You can mess with me at the academy. Right now I’m getting to my friend's house.” 

“Oh c’mon, you make it sound like the world revolves around you; maybe consider I live in this area?” 

Of course, the wealthy end of San Venus, she’d live there.  

I felt muscles around my ears twitch at a particularly unpleasant ‘splorch’ sounded under my boots against the water. “So why don’t you just keep walking home then?” 

“I wanna take my time” That smirk again. Yet what I could think about was that she wasn’t unjustified to be hostile. No she wasn’t justified. I didn’t have anything to do with her hangups or problems. 

“So why don’t you just take a different path home then?” 

“This is the shortest.” The quick response. 

I stopped, my focus on my staff loosened as the rain doused me, my clothes rapidly soaking“Okay, so how about you just go to the opposite side of the street” I was no longer hiding my irritation. 

She stopped at precisely the same time as I did, she lifted a finger and tapped it to the space between her chin and lower lip. “No.” simple answer. 

Despite the wet that was quickly soaking to my skin I felt the anger boiling under me, heating it. 

 

I’d had it. 

 

I extended my staff with both hands, mumbling as I gave a circular flick and then stabbed it forward into the space between us; the peridot crystal in the end of it flickering with a bright red as the repulsion spell pushed a focused ball of gravity. 

Both of us went backward against the sodden brick under our feet, my boots squelching underneath me as I prayed the treading to hold up.

Water went everywhere, in a massive shock wave around the air, I could hear the crystals in the light posts clinkling from the blast. 

When the mess of water cleared, Briar was stumbling forward with her hand firmly gripping the chakram. “Oh! Oh finally! I’ve been waiting for you to throw the first shot!” the tone in her voice was filled with an unexpected glee. 

A whizzing noise shot past my ear as my body pulled me to the right, the disk spraying water in it’s wake. 

I bolted, feet pushing me along down the sidewalk and across the street. 

Running away from my problems. Again. 

“Oh no you don’t!” Suddenly I was weighed down, briar jumping me; her arms latching around me tightly as I felt myself starting to crumple. 

I slammed the wooden tip of my staff into the floor to jump away and-

 

***

 

The both of us collapsed into a wall, crumpling as gravity pulled us down. 

“Damn it” I heard Briar curse as she pulled herself up, while I laid there. Everything hurt. I think my everything had made contact with the wall. 

I pulled myself up, trying to work through the sting. 

Briar was dusting herself off. The rain had stopped. I think? There were walls on both side of us as I tried to assess what had happened. This definitely wasn’t the same neighborhood.

I tapped the crystal against the side of my head, focusing the prestidigitation, evaporating the water from my clothing, hair, and body. 

“What did you do?!” Briar nearly roared  

“Was trying to get away from you!” I snapped back, standing my ground “I didn’t want to be messed with and you pushed me and-” I stopped to finally look around. 

There were little bits of rock on the ground…floor.. The material was stone…or stone like? The walls were a dark gray, but smooth. The walls were perfectly even in height seeming to be about 9 feet high? 

There was no ceiling and-

 

This wasn’t San Venus.  

 

Briar, in equal confusing looked up and then walked forward

“Great.” She kicked a rock into the distance and it went up over a wall, seeming to be completely unphased by the hold of gravity “You got us mazed”  

“Mazed?” 

“Yeah, theres a few avante garde mages doing art projects they keep in pocket dimensions. This is…” 

She stuck her finger into her mouth and then stuck the wet finger into the air feeling the wind move around. “Erweiz. art guild that specialises in this kinda thing” 

I looked up to see everything in the air, chunks of architecture all floating disassembled outside the hold of gravity. I could see destinationless staircases, and transparent rooms without doors that seemed to house classrooms that were absent of students. 

The clueless question had to be asked “what’s avante garde?”  

Briar moved and ran her hands along the texture of a nearby wall, fingers probing for what I could only imagine to be climbable crannies or hidden triggers.  

“It’s a kind of art practice; meant to be challenging and experimental” 

“So what exactly is this kind of experiment?” I asked as Briar started following the walls, as we turned a corner.” 

“Erweiz makes Mazes. Some of their work shows up in pamphlets I’ve seen across town. The occasional painting recreation gallery too.” She looked up to the ‘sky’ as I looked up to see even more odd stones and monuments floating along the sky “Each one is meant to be both thought provoking, and challenging, literally if your a witch that stumbles on them”   

“Challenging for spellcasters?” my imagination conjured a collective of robed wizards in a broad spectrum of color. “So what exactly is the challenge here?”

“Escape. Obviously.” 

I looked up into the infinite abyss feeling like it could grab me as my stomach rushed. “And if we don’t?” 

“They’d let us go…eventually. But we shouldn’t wait” she commented. 

“You’re suddenly incredibly calm about this.” I couldn’t help but notice that. She’d gone from actively trying to be a nuisance to now just. Just talking. 

“Not like freaking out is going to help.” She started walking ahead, gaze still maintaining contact. “We either find the exit, or wait for the maze to stop existing and drop us back home.” she paused to precisely a second “And you’re not the person I wanna be stuck with in one of these places so don’t be dead weight.”

I felt a growl rumble in my throat, I’d argue..but divinity knows I didn’t wanna be stuck here with or with out someone to help me. 

Eventually we came to a wall in the road, a dark brass sign mounted into the stone masonry 

Witches, Wizards, All comers.

We, The Avaracious Erweiz

Present to you 

The Dual 

an art piece to be experienced 

To solve it

To Understand Another

Good Luck

“Start of the Maze.” Briar commented. “If the way people talk about it is true the plaque and the name of the exhibit is how we get out” 

 

“It’s the Dual?” 

 

“Maybe it’s a race then?” She posed. It was strange hearing her talk without hostility. Her tone was a lot more smoother. 

“So how do you know so much about these people?” 

“I’m a fan, dumbass” aaand the hostility’s back. “I like art.” 

“Right.” I bit the inside of my cheek a moment thinking. “So what exactly do you propose we do here?” 

“It’s a duel. Maybe a play on words.” 

“What exactly should we expect in there?” 

“We’ll find out” And just like that she started forward once more

I kept as much pace with her as I was willing, allowing her to take the lead as I looked over the environment trying to see anything hinting at what might be necessary to get out. . 

The walls of the maze were monotonous, the same texture throughout with the occasional interruption of some sort of painting; images of landscapes of far off places, towers made of glass, and peculiar four wheeled…boxes? filled with people on crowded streetways 

every now and again there were turns; a left here, a right there. 

what intersections we encountered Briar just with out hesitation turned; as much as I was unsure of her instinct I didn’t feel I was in a position to try and contradict the decisions, and more over I didn’t want to be separated from her especially in the maze 

Now that we were in this “neutral space” I started noticing things about Briar; her stride had this air of defensiveness. As she walked her first were always balled up, moving with every step, but her left hand seldom swung in a motion too far away from that chakram of hers. 

The longer I walked behind her I realized she was just always “on guard” despite her confidence as we turned a corner the more I realized she seemed to anticipate something, anything; always seeming to hold a tension in her shoulders that eased up just enough before needing to coil in again as we found each turn. 

What felt like hours passed.  No progress. 

“Where exactly are we meant to be going?” I finally felt the question hesitantly edge it’s way out of me. 

“The middle.” her response came back in a quick and tight snap. “I presume” 

She paused and turned. Her eyes held an analytic glint to them as she looked me over.

“It’s The Dual, right?”

 

“Dual? Or Duel?” I answered with a question. 

 

“I guess we find out.” Before I could understood what that meant I felt an instinct yank me downward as her fist swing, the same hand having pulled out her chakram and swung back, the wind off the attempted blow felt on my left ear as my legs hopped back 

“Holy crap, Briar!” she kept her swing going, keeping me on the back foot. 

Her leg pushed forward, scissoring into a kick through the air “If it’s a duel, then fight me, c’mon it’s just like our classes” The casual element of her talking at…to me created a strange awkward atmosphere as she swung. 

“I don’t know if that's what it meant!” I kept my defense up, staff in front of me as it deflected a hit from the sharp edge of her chakram again. Hard enough it left a notch in the wood. That would need some sort of restorative magic. 

“You’re left is open” I suddenly found myself propelled up into the air as a stalagmite with a blunted tip struck me. 

For a moment I saw the top of the wall, as I spun through the air. 

The gravity in the maze took hold again and I was pulled back down on the other side of the wall, my feet stumbling as I fell and hit my shoulder into the surface. 

I was winded…this was like the combat class, except I wasn’t sure if Briar was gonna hold back. 

“Well now we know the walls aren’t enchanted.” Briar’s voice from above me pulled my attention up to the top of the wall above, she walked the ledge in a purposefully slow fashion, like some sort of prowling predator. It…well of course it reminded me of Calamity they grew up together! 

Knowing that, something clicked that I’d use later. 

“Happy accident?” I called up to her

She didn’t answer, just jumping down at me, the bladed disc coming down at me. 

I panicked and let out a cry, reflexively swinging my staff to the right and letting out a call in the sound of untethered falcons. What was meant to be a spell for redirecting gravity now recited in the language of the Fae 

A giant ghostly talon extended from the staff and grabbed her by the middle and as I swung the fist of claws threw her off to the side, sending her off with enough force to kick up dust and dirt. 

“Woah.” my eyes moved between the staff and where Briar was.  

That was new. That was really new. 

“Okay…Okay.” Briar’s voice had that hostility back as she pulledher self to her feet, that edge in her voice indicated she was now angry at me again for getting her in a way she hadn’t expected. “But now…I’m gonna tell you to run…and you don’t stop until I say” 

And I didn’t get a chance to react before she let out this bellowing war cry storming out of a dust cloud at me like a stampeding gwanebeast. 

Reflexively I fell backwards, magic opening a portal behind me, the exit popping me out of the wall closest to me. 

Briar’s Chakram hit me behind my ear and I felt the biting metal tear open the skin before it reeled backwards to it’s wielder. 

I jumped back atop the wall, gravity pulling me a little too far before I corrected myself and began charging. 

It was uncertain how much of this was chasing, or racing. 

Almost felt like an odd sort of dance; swapping the positions of attack and defense, whether we were properly running the maze or atop the walls. 

Somewhere I could distantly make out something in the distance of the center of the maze while I observed the shape of some kind of a pillar.  

 

We were there. 

 

“I dropped to the floor from the ledge of the interior (exterior to the center?)wall as Briar half sprinted in through an almost atrium shape entrance. 

“That…was actually better than I expected it to go” I confessed.

Briar let out something between a snort and a chuckle “yeah. Pretty good for a boy” she said as she kept walking forward toward the obelisk type pillar with the face of two women standing in relief to a cold hard rock like material, each one looking away from the other. 

Something in me buzzed like a nest of wasps. And I could almost feel fangs in my neck and teeth in my throat. 

“No.” the tip of my staff echoed across the dimension. One of the faces in the stone obelisk almost seemed to look at me with it’s attention as I challenged the statement.  

Briar turned around, a scowl painted across her jaw at being challenged. 

“That's not how this is going to work.” I insisted, stepping forward. “You don’t get to work along side me and call me that” 

She scoffed “oh yeah? And what are you going to do then?” 

Somehow my mouth and mind were working fully together. “Nothing.” I said in the way one would deliver a life ending threat “I’ll do nothing. You don’t get my cooperation with out showing me respect” 

Her eyes narrowed. I expected something. A thrown fist, an attempted attack. All she did was let out a rough sounding puff of air through the nose as she turned “Fine. I can solve this without you.” 

“No you’re not!” I pointed the gemstone at her “It’s a Dual puzzle. The Dual.” 

As I spoke she turned to look at me as if I’d hit her in the back of the head with my staff. What composure she had slowly rattling. 

“Play on words. It requires two people to actually solve it. If you’re a fan of these people you’d be smart enough to know you can’t just cheat it. Right?!”

She pointed a finger at me, the retraining three fingers were white from the grip on the air. “You…you wouldn’t dare.” 

“Unless you want to wait until someone finds us. You have to respect me, Briar!” 

“Calamity’s childishness must have rubbed off on you because there's no way every one of you people can be so self centered.” 

“And you think Calamity asked for you to treat her the way you have” 

She went rigid, her eyes wide like she’d been slapped across the face. 

“I know you think you can get away with this because she won’t stop you, but I won’t let you treat me like garbage just because you like to be the biggest bird in the hen-house!” 

“You think I like this?!” I saw it again. The Demon from my childhood. That ate everything…except now  it was cornered.  I could see it. What the demon was.

Scared. and I remembered what my dad told me. Scared animals were dangerous. 

I held my ground, waiting.  

“You don’t deserve her. And she doesn’t deserve anything.” 

“And you think you can just make that decision?” I took a step forward. She moved backward. 

I don't know if anyone had ever properly challenged her like this. “You don’t know what it’s like for people to make decisions for you.” 

“She told me what happened” It came out before I realized what I said. The thing I shouldn’t have said. Oh no. 

The air around us both seemed to heat up with how angry she was, waves in the air practically vibrating with her as she suddenly got inches away from me. “Choose your next word carefully, Vangrove” 

“She told me” I could feel the twitch in my legs. Something that said run but I didn’t. I couldn’t. Not now.  “The spell she cast on you, and why she did it.” 

“And she said she regrets it, right?” 

I refused to move. “Yes” 

She then turned around and looked at the obelisk. In this moment we both seemed to see the fuller details; two women standing, arms crossed across their chests. On either side a series of pulleys and floating platforms rotated around it. 

She let out a laugh “of course she does.” her voice quavered. 

“And what? Did she say I deserved it? That I wouldn’t listen?” She wouldn’t face me. I couldn’t tell if she was scared of what I’d say. 

“Don’t. Don’t actually answer that.” She suddenly turned to face me, the full fury now brought to bare 

Briar looked at me, eyes red with anger, wetness in the corners that seemed to be held back through a practiced strength “Let me shed a little light on this. Yeah. Yeah she did that to me. Fuck it, maybe I even deserve it, but heres the something she’s probably omitted. Roxy” her saying my name felt laced with acid. Like up until this point she’d never properly acknowledged me and now this was the undue attention she felt most appropriate to me. 

I looked with wide eyes in terror as she closed the space between us. 

“When she did that. She violated me. She did it while I was sleeping. When I trusted her to sleep in the same room as me” 

An icy fist took a grip to my stomach as the enormity of what I thought I knew and understood dawned on me.  “I-but..” 

“Yeah. Yeah that's right Roxy, you’re little savior didn’t just warp my mind to suit her, but she didn’t  even have the audacity to hold me down and do it while I was conscious” 

I felt like the wind was struck out of me. While she was asleep? Calamity did this…while she was sleeping. 

“Sometimes… I think I’m the villain they claim that I am.”  The memory of Calamity’s confession echoed. This is what she meant. 

“So how about that then.” Briar proclaimed, throwing both arms out to the air. “That’s who you fell in love with! Someone willing to use the worst magic imaginable on a person for doing something they disagree with. For refusing to participate in their experiments” 

Right…the reason Calamity chose to do that was because she wasn’t accepting her identity. 

But I couldn’t pretend Briar wasn’t done wrong here. Calamity had done wrong. I don't think she was wrong. But there was nothing I could do here. But I couldn’t ignore it and all I could think to do was-

“What do you want me to do then?!” The plea crackled out of me, I don't know if it was meant to have been held inside, but it leapt out all the same

There was a moment, but not long. Where I saw the idea solidify in her head “Give me my mind back.”

“I’m sorry?”

She stepped forward, a flicker of something I couldn’t identify in her eye as she continued “if you’re such a good person then you can fix it, fix me. That’s nothing hard for you little miss chosen one, right?” 

I felt the blood in my face rush away leaving nothing but cold as I tried to figure out how to negotiate this “I..you realise you can’t be trusted with that knowledge” 

“And that's okay for me to have never had a choice? What, is your loyalty to her so strong you’d let someone suffering from her actions? For me to carry on like I am? You realise how often this stupid curse makes me feel like my thoughts about her aren’t in my control?” She hissed. 

We stood there in the segment of the maze as I tried to think of what to say, what to do. 

A hero has to make hard choices…right? And we won’t know it’s the right choice….

“If I do that…I need you to promise me something?” 

I could see something, some errant twitch in her hand as she looked me in the eye “Name it.” I could feel the undercurrent of desperation that she tried to cover with anger and hatred. 

I sucked in a breath trying to suppress the shake of fear “If I do this for you, you really really have to leave Calamity alone, period, no seeking her out for revenge bullying, no proxy bullies, no trying to make things miserable for me and her friends because we’re close. You have to leave her alone. Entirely. Because no one is going to get any close to better for what was done if you keep trying to punish her and yourself” 

Something muttered under her breath “myself..” then she let out a chuckle and straightened up her posture, “Fine. Deal then, fix my memories and I’m out of her life. And I’ll respect you until I don’t have to look at you anymore. Deals a fucking deal. ” 

She held out her hand 

I took her hand. It felt a lot more calloused than I expected it to be. But the grip was firm. I tried my best to meet it in equal strength. “Deal.” 

When her hand left mine she immediately smoothed out the bits of displaced blonde hair, closing her eyes and straightening her posture. I could almost imagine her taking all the anger and pushing it down into herself, swallowing it away. 

And then, as if she hadn’t just been screaming suddenly that overly confident demeanor returned, The Demon exorcised, for now. 

“The Erweiz put a puzzle in their mazes. There's a prize, and a teleportation glyph in the middle. Figure the puzzle and then we’re out of here.”  She stated plainly 

Despite the tightness in my gut the question came out “Have you experienced these before?” 

“No, but I read a lot about them” 

Briar stepped ahead of me as we looked at the massive pillar. 

I remembered my bleeding ear and moved to wipe it. 

The Pillar of the Two women was massive, centered inside of an opening on the ground we stood on. The two halves that looked away from one another as it slowly rotated, looking into the hole it was suspended inside implied that it was freely floating though so tall in either direction I couldn’t see the top, or the bottom. 

Pocket Dimensions were not part of my classes, but I had a feeling this would be something I’d learn in a second year class. 

There were platforms that slowly circles across the way, some elevated, some not. 

There were multiple arms all along the surface too, each one with a hand of some sort poking out of a surface that resembled the flowing gown of some sort of one of the masked attendants of the all-faiths temple in San Venus. 

“There.” Briar called my attention with the point of a finger to a glinting “stake” pointing out of the forehead of one of the faces of the conjoined women.

“That looks like it’s meant to be pushed in, easy enough.” 

Briar gave her chakram a bit of a spin on her index finger before reeling it back, her left foot taking a forward stance as she winged it up toward the spike. 

We both watched it spin, sending off ripples of magic through the air as it travelled to its destination. 

In this moment I learned two things; she was exceptionally well practiced at throwing that thing precisely where she wanted it to land and also- 

After the chakram landed with ease on the spike Briar proceeded to flick her wrist; the magic chakram glowed and trembled on top of the spike, rattling as if it were trying to wake up. “No…no! C’mon get back here!” she kept trying to pull on the “rope” that connected it to her hand. 

Nothing. 

It had a limit to how far it could travel before it could be recalled automatically. 

“Did you seriously expect it to be that easy?” I remarked. She growled back at me 

“Let’s see you try it.” 

Nodding, I walked up slowly to the circling and floating platforms. I watched as one approached and then simply hopped onto it, keeping my legs slightly bent so I could keep balance as it moved. It wasn’t moving fast, but…unsteady ground isn’t the safest. 

“Are you just gonna jump? Or what?” I could hear briar jumping on a second platform as she reprimanded me. 

“I thought we were supposed to be working together.” looking at the statue I pushed my staff into the belt pocket i had. 

“Yeah, I’m still gonna bitch about it.”  

Hope my back hadn’t gotten soft since moving to the city. I hopped across the gap and held on to an extended arm from the statue. Pulling myself up I reached up and grabbed the next arm. Then swung to the next above it. 

Slow and steady. 

From the other side Briar’s grunts of exertion and the distance above me made me realise how we were moving at similar speeds. My dad would make some remark about it since she grew up in a city, but I couldn’t think to say anything. 

As we climbed the space I heard Briar call out “You’re seriously doing this the hard way?” 

“Is there any other way?” 

“You’re treating it like someone who isn’t a witch.” She called out. “I’m the one who’s casting tool is out of my hand.” 

My face flushed with embarrassment as I realized what I had been doing. 

I breathed and pulled myself up, slowly, and steadily as i hung from the arm I reached into the pouch again and pulled my staff. 

I am a witch. Knowing a knew trick or two I breathed and spun my staff whispering an incantation infused with my fae language. I spoke in the certainty of motion, the inevitability of my progress. 

And I felt the gravity around me pulled me hard against the statue. 

And then. And stood up on my feet “You know what. Thanks Briar.” 

“One of the easy things for first years to forget is how much magic can trivialise certain challenges.” I heard her voice before another ‘hyah!” of motion from her.  “You just gotta..stop thinking like a ‘person’ and think like a witch” 

“Hadn’t thought about that.” 

“Well one of us has to pay attention in Teuenfreaux class” 

I began the walk up the side of the statue for a few more feet only for a sudden rumble to suddenly shake the entire formation. 

From out of sight I heard a yelp. I dashed a few feet around the surface of the statue, lunging forward and catching briar as best as I could with a single hand, saving her from the fall into-

 

Oh..

 

I waved the staff extending my magic on to briar as she took her footing next to me as we both looked at the infinite abyss beneath us. 

“Don’t think I owe you one for that” Briar stated plainly, 

“Never crossed my mind” I stated back.” 

Looking up we saw a the upper half of the statue seemed to have elevated itself above the half we were now standing on.  

“Do the Erweiz do this kind of thing often?” 

 

“Would it really be a puzzle if it was easy?” 

Sighing i waved a hand forward “Lead the way” 

We both proceeded to carefully walk up the side of the statue, secure in the new gravity I’d created. 

Eventually we came to the newly created platform at the top of the bottom half of the statue, dispelling the gravity magic we climbed to the new safe haven.

In the center…the core of the statue, there was a small pedestal. On the front was a plaque that read 

 

“Through me, all things become possible. What Am I?” 

 

Above us we could make out the thin veneer of a force field that seemed to block any forward momentum to the top of the statue. 

We looked at the inscription, before Briar spoke “Here I thought, with everything I knew about these guys I would be know what to expect.” 

“Did you expect to solve the puzzles of the puzzle witch’s?” 

“I’d hoped?” it was the first moment I’d ever heard her sound uncertain. 

We both circled the riddle as we concocted the answer. 

“Strength?” She asked it as I propped myself up with my staff, feeling the smoothed over spot where my thumb settled. 

The Riddle didn’t respond. 

“Magic?” It made sense to me. As witch’s we were able to bend and shape things based on being abel to access  and use magic. 

But again, the Riddle did not respond 

Briar snorted in frustration, pacing slowly, her knuckles repeatedly knocking into her own forehead to rattle loose the answer. 

“Keys?” she pointed her fingers at the thing. 

I was beginning to think riddles were something I was never gonna understand. 

Wait. 

“It couldn’t be that simple an answer right?” the words muttered there way out with the uncertainty of a newborn doe. 

“What is it?” 

“Understanding..” I said calmly. 

The plaque let out this staccato whistling sound before we both heard a loud pop above us, the shimmering residue of magic snowing down over us, followed by the clack from either side of us heralding the drop of ladders 

“Huh. Well I’ll be” Briar spoke. Before looking at me and giving me a light shove that was…reminding me of Calamity. “How’d you figure it out?” 

“Everything in this has been about duals. Dueling…Dual Witch;s…Two of us….” I waved my hand in a circle a bit between the both of us. “We’re supposed to work together…it just kinda clicked.” I explained. 

“Well, dang.” 

We both stood there a bit. I think something was happening. 

“Lets get back to it.” she said, spinning and hopping up the ladder section. 

I made my way back up. The ladder ending where a molded protruding hand begun for me to take hold. 

The scaling on the second half took less time as I waved the spell to let me walk up the rest. 

Dangling from the the spike in question I grabbed Briars casting tool, feeling the chakram in my hand I got a real good look at the black metal it was made of, the leather wrapping around the unbladed middle spoked segment that seemed to be well maintained. Least as far as I could tell, 

“Hey, Briar.” 

When she looked up to me as she climbed I let gravity doo the rest as it fell down. 

“Aha!” she flicked her wrist and the magic took over, as it spun and landed perfectly in her grip again. ‘Come to momma.” she said before pressing her lips to the flat of the metal. 

Then with spin of the disk in her hand she repositioned herself onto her knees before standing up, running to meet me at the top as we stood with the reoriented gravity. 

“Alright…i think we did it!” 

“Didn’t think we would be able to do it” I confessed. 

“I would have dragged you up the tower if I had to” 

“And here you were refusing to work with me at the start.” 

And then a silence between the both of us. 

She looked down and reached to pull on the spike “ow, shit!” she hissed 

I reached down to mimic the action a stinging spark emitted from my hand.. 

And then I remembered. And I saw Briar remember. 

“The Dual.” we both said in synch with one another. 

Then…looking at one another we counted down from three with one hand, while reaching with the other.

3…

2.

1!

We both grabbed the spike at the same time. No zap came. 

And with that we pulled it out. 

A few feet above us the segment of the top slowly slid apart as we both walked up to look inside. 

There it was. Two envelopes, and little glass dome. 

Removing the little doo-dad and holding it in my grip the inspection revealed that inside the dome seemed to be a replica of the two faced statue. Shaking it had little bits of glitter spinning around the statue. 

I saw Briar pulling the envelopes and a small scroll from inside. 

“Here.” I said handing over the globe “you’ll appreciate this more than me” I confessed. 

She nodded. “Here we go then.” she said. 

The magic spell chanted loud as she spoke our names, and our rite as the victors. 

And then the scroll popped in her hand with a bright blinding flash. 

And we were back on campus again. It looked like it hadn’t been raining for a long time, and more over it seemed to be much more earlier in the day than when me and Briar first jumped in 

“Well…I’ll be.” She stated. 

Suddenly it was over. And we both stood there, unsure what to say to one another. 

Then, with an almost serendipitous timing…

“Holy shit Roxie!” Briar flinched as we both heard the running of shoes on the cobblestone of the campus. 

I was bombarded by the combined hugging strength of Calamity and Lilith from either side as my feet nearly buckled from all the exertion “woah woah, hey! Easy I had a rough day.”

Lilith’s worriedly proclaimed, “we thought you died!” 

“Or fell back into the Fae Dominion” Calamity’s panic was extremely evident 

“I…well it’s complicated but.” I laughed awkwardly, “It’s been a long day” 

Calamity looked at me incredulously “It’s been a week!” 

“I’m sorry. What?!” 

“Honestly I’m just glad you got back on your birthday” Lilith pulled my attention back over to her. 

OH! 

Okay, I sorted away a to-do on researching time dilation regarding traveling outside the traditional material realm at that. 

“Roxanne.” Briar suddenly cut through the noise.

I gently pushed my way out of the hug. 

“Catch.” my hand reflexively moved to catch what she’s tossed in the air at me. 

The little glitter globe. 

“Don’t forget what we talked about…happy birthday” 

The look of concern on Calamity’s face radiated so hard I didn’t need to see it directly, the same could be said for the death glare coming off of Lilith. 

Briar turned on her heels, and walked off. 

In my chest I felt this empty, hollow sensation like something had been yanked away. 

For a few minutes. I think me and Briar might have been friends. 

And now we weren’t. 

The excited words of Lilith pulled me back to the present. “So….wanna have one of your birthday gifts now or later?” 

Calamity’s ears perked up  at the suggestion. “Oh! Yeah, me and Lil here finally figured out what it is we wanna give you.” 

“Well. as excited as you both sound I don’t think I could wait” 

They both stood in front of me and looked at one another. “Okay; one…two…”

Lilith finished “three!” 

Suddenly I felt the warm touch of a kiss on both cheeks as my eyes went wide. 

Oh